Layover
by Kitsune Moonstar
Summary: AU.  Roy was just looking for a place to sit.  He wasn't expecting her at all.


Author's note: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist or its characters. Part of this story was previously posted as a part of So Kiss Me. This is AU.

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><p><strong>Layover<strong>

Roy looked around for an empty seat in the café with a sigh. He really needed to get something decent to eat and have a chance to just sit down and eat it. And this just happened to be the only non fast food place in this wing of Central City's airport. However, finding a seat was proving difficult. Finally, he spotted a table with two chairs and only one occupant. A striking blond woman in a navy business suit sat there, seemingly engrossed in her book. It was worth a try. He made his way over to her table.

"Excuse me, ma'am. Can I sit here?"

She looked up from her book. "Sure."

"Roy Mustang." He offered a hand.

"Riza Hawkeye." Her handshake was firm, and her mahogany eyes were friendly.

She returned to her book, and Roy applied himself to his food. It was only when he was down to his dessert that his attention returned to his seating companion.

"Good book?"

Riza laughed. "Dreadful actually. But it's my firm's latest best seller, so I can't avoid it unfortunately. It isn't one of the ones I had anything to do with which explains how it got published actually."

"So you work for a publishing company then?"

She nodded and set aside the book. "Yes, in the young adult literature section. I'm actually on my way to a conference on the subject."

Riza didn't ask about his job, but then given his pilot's uniform, it was rather obvious. Instead the two of them chatted about books for awhile. As it turned out, they had fairly similar tastes when it came to most literature. It was one of the nicest conversations he'd had in awhile, especially with a pretty lady. So many of the women he ran into either felt they needed to hide their intelligence or didn't have any. Roy was a little surprised to hear about how much she traveled. It was a wonder that they hadn't run into each other before with a schedule like hers, but then again Roy didn't actually talk with passengers all that much.

Roy was reluctant to leave when the time came, but she had a plane to catch and he had one to fly. Hopefully, he'd bump into her again sometime. Riza was one woman he would definitely like to spend more time with. It sounded like she traveled almost as much as he did, and so far they had fairly similar interests. And she definitely wasn't like the simpering girls that were his flight attendants more often than not these days. They had exchanged business cards before taking their leave of one another.

It was two weeks before he saw Riza again. He'd been heading for the café to get a coffee before heading down to his gate when he caught sight of a familiar blond head. Once he had his coffee, Roy changed his route, heading towards her table.

"What flight are you waiting for?"

Riza looked up from yet another book. "The redeye to Central. You?"

"The delayed flight to East City. The one that was supposed to go out last night." Roy slid into the seat beside her. "I've got another hour and half before we actually leave."

They spent a very pleasant hour chatting before they had to part ways, and Roy missed her as soon as they had. He started looking for her when got into an airport. About a quarter of the time, they were actually at the same one. It was an odd relationship, but one that Roy was really enjoying. He didn't think he had spent this much time with a woman that he didn't think of as a sister since he was a teenager. Riza was such an interesting puzzle, and she didn't fall at his feet due to his looks and charm like most women. She was more likely to try and poke holes in his ego. It didn't feel like he had to put on an act for her. He could just be Roy, and that was enough for her.

Roy even carried a picture of the two of them now. It was a great picture. He was in uniform, and she was in her usual suit. Riza was leaning against his shoulder with his cover perched on her head. His friend Maes had taken in on one of the rare occasions that he and Maes were working the same flight and had run into Riza at the airport. Of course, this did mean that Maes could now tease him about Riza on a regular basis, but Roy considered that a small price to pay. At least it was a change in subject from Maes' wife and daughter. It was only after the picture was taken that Roy realized he and Riza had known each other for about six months.

He was at the same café where they had first met a few weeks later when he caught sight of her heading down the concourse, looking extremely frazzled and exhausted. As soon as she was close enough for him not to yell, Roy called out to her.

"Riza? Are you all right?" He frowned a little. "Let me get you something to drink, and we can go sit down somewhere. What would you like?"

She smiled wryly. "A mocha? Please."

It took him a couple minutes to get their drinks and find them a couch that was out of the way. Riza took her drink and set on the end table beside the couch before she buried her face in his shoulder. "Thank you."

Roy wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Bad day?"

"Try week. It's been a nightmare. Nothing has gone right what so ever. The only reason I'm here at all is that they managed to get me on the standby list for the flight in three hours."

"Not fun."

"No. I'm exhausted and surrounded by idiots." She sighed. "Present company excepted."

"You said you had three hours before the flight boards?"

Riza nodded. Roy smiled.

"Take a nap. You look completely exhausted, and I bet sleep would make you feel better. I just got in, and I'm not due to head out until late this evening. I'll wake you for your flight. I promise."

It was a measure of how tired she was that she didn't argue with him about it. She simple kicked off her heels and tucked her feet up under herself as she leaned against his shoulder. Riza was asleep within five minutes. Roy watched her sleep and realized that this woman was far more to him than he had imagined possible. For all that they had never seen each other outside of the airport, Riza knew him better than just about anyone. Maybe he should see if she was interested in expanding their relationship beyond the reoccurring airport encounters. It wasn't like they would be parachuting into the unknown.

The thought was something he kept in mind when he woke her twenty minutes before her plane was scheduled to start boarding. Riza seemed much better for her nap. He waved her off and promised himself that next time he would ask her out to a real dinner. At a nice restaurant outside of the airport they ran into each other at. It might be a nice change for the both of them, and it could be a step in the right direction to move their relationship forward.

It took a week and a half for him to run into her again. But late in the afternoon just after he'd finished the paperwork for that day's flight, Roy caught sight of her blond hair in the café and made his way over to the couch she was lounging on.

Riza looked up from her book, grinned, and scooted over to make room for him beside her. "Hey."

"We have to stop meeting like this," he teased.

They chatted awhile before he asked, "Are you coming or going?"

Riza laughed. "A little of both. I got in late this morning, but I'm off again on a midnight flight. It doesn't make much sense to go any place at this point."

Roy ran a hand through his hair. "Well, I don't have a flight until tomorrow morning, and I was wondering if you'd like to go out to dinner."

Something lit up in her pretty mahogany eyes, and Riza's smile increased wattage. "That sounds lovely."

He was probably grinning foolishly now, but Roy didn't care. To his surprise, Riza leaned in and kissed his cheek before asking.

"So, what sort of food did you have in mind?"

Roy laughed, sensing another one of their debates coming on. "I hadn't really thought that far ahead. Shall we argue over on the way to the car?"

They ended up at a little hole in the wall place not too far from the airport. Maes had actually recommended it to Roy a couple of times, but he had never managed to get there until now. The place might be a basement restaurant, but the food was delicious, and Roy was picky when it came to Xing cuisine. Riza seemed to be enjoying the food as well, and their conversation moved from favorite types of food to travel horror stories. Somehow that led to discussion of favorite places they had traveled, for work or otherwise. By the time they were ready to order dessert, Roy was convinced he was falling for Riza.

Both of them lingered over the dessert. Once the meal was over, he knew he'd have to take Riza back to the airport, and they'd go their separate ways again. Of course he did have her phone number, and he could call her, but somehow that didn't seem enough.

"We should do this again sometime," Riza commented.

"I'd like that."

So they pulled out their schedules and tried to figure out when they could get together again. Unfortunately, it looked like two weeks out was their best bet.

"I've been meaning to ask, Riza, where's your home base?"

"Technically, I'm assigned to the East City office. Of course, I'm probably on the road about half of the time any more, but I do actually have an apartment there. What about you?"

Roy shrugged. "I'm renting an apartment in Central City from my aunt who raised me. It's not a permanent arrangement though since I've yet to get a really regular schedule. They seemed to switch which flights I'm on every few weeks."

"That must be annoying."

"A little. But I would rather it be me than Maes. At least he's getting to see his wife and daughter on a regular basis."

"Have you two known each other a long time?"

He grinned. "Since we started school. Maes is a year older than me, but I skipped a grade."

On their way back to the airport, Roy regaled her with some of the tales of the mischief he and Maes had gotten into as children. Riza kissed his cheek again before they parted ways, and Roy found himself very much looking forward to their next dinner date. Over the next few months, dinners (and sometimes breakfasts or lunches) every few weeks became the norm for them. Whatever city they were in, the two of them ditched the airport for several hours in order to explore the local restaurant scene. Once Maes had dragged the two of them home with for dinner with Gracia and Elysia.

It was also around then that they started going home with one another. It hadn't been intentional. However, they had run into each other at the East City Airport one night after Roy had just flown three flights back to back. He wasn't going anywhere for at least forty-eight hours. Riza had taken one look at him and drag him home with her. Roy didn't really remember much about that evening, but he woke sometime late in the morning tucked into a comfortable bed and with the smell of breakfast in the air.

He wandered out of Riza's bedroom barefoot and in a pair of sweatpants from his bag, he found her cooking bacon and French toast. It had seemed perfectly natural for Roy to lean over her shoulder and steal a piece of bacon.

"Good morning."

Riza smiled. "Actually, it's almost afternoon."

Roy just shrugged. "Whatever. That smells wonderful."

"It will be ready in a few minutes. You can set the table."

It turned out to be the first morning of many that they shared. Riza stayed with him while attending a conference in Central a few weeks later, and soon it became common if they were overnighting in same city for them to stay together. And somehow, Roy found more and more of his things making their way into Riza's apartment. It didn't take longer than two months before they were pretty much living together full time. Which led Roy to start looking at what he wanted from this relationship long term.

Riza had become an integral part of his life without Roy really noticing it, but he was not about to lose her now. They were fast becoming something more than just friends or even just a casual couple. So with a little help from Maes, Roy began planning. It took him nearly three months to get everything arranged. Roy wanted to do this right. The first step was discussing getting a place of their own with Riza. While he was more than happy to call Riza's apartment home, it was a little crapped for the two of them to be living their full time. So they kept busy with apartment hunting (or perhaps house hunting) while Roy put some other plans into motion.

Two weeks after they had found the perfect cottage for the two of them to share in East City, Roy finally had every thing he needed in order to propose to Riza. Of course, things didn't quite go as planned. He had intended to take her out for a romantic dinner and dancing and then proposing at the end of the evening. It didn't work out that way. Due to scheduling conflicts and flight delays, Roy ended up flying into Central just before midnight. But to his complete surprise, he found Riza waiting for him. He had expected that she would have gone back to his apartment by now. He had been scheduled to come in around eight.

But there she was waiting for him in the airport dressed in a little black dress that hugged her curves and made him forget that he was four hours late. Which probably explained why he through what remained of his plans out the window. Instead, Roy kissed her hello before dropping to one knee right there in the concourse.

"Asking if I could share a table with you that evening was one of the best chances I ever took. Riza, will you marry me?"

She laughed before leaning down and taking his hands in her own. "Yes."

The picture with their engagement announcement was taken moments later. Roy in his pilot's uniform and Riza's in her black dress wearing his cover. Their arms wrapped around one another and a ruby ring gleaming on her finger.


End file.
